It's the little things
by SidneyShey
Summary: This is a story about Bowser in his teens years...a touching tale of how a fiery koopette manages to melt Bowser's frozen heart, long before he ever meets Peach... R&R, please! Rated T.


_A brief foreword...this is a story about Bowser and his teen years, and how one small confrontation changed his life forever. Please don't whale on me too viciously; it's one of my first fanfics! I hope you enjoy it!_

_~SidneyShey_

Bowser Koopa was always considered the bully in school, the hotshot, the smartass. He had a small circle of friends, about three or four koopas that helped him torture the other students at Koopa High School Of Higher Education. They would hang around outside the girl's locker rooms, steal the nerdy koopa's shells…you name it. Bowser's 'friends' were named Zero, Delta, Bone, and Piper. These four koopas were tall, gangly and powerful, but none were so powerful as Bowser; he won all the fist fights, he had the biggest shell-this, by Koopa Guy code, apparently made him the leader. But Bowser didn't look like the rest of the koopas, oh no, some said it was the royal blood in him, and others thought that he was simply mutated. But come Bowser's sophomore year, girls were saying 'handsome' instead of mutated. True, Bowser had certainly evolved from the spoiled little brat that he once was. He was tall, lean and muscle-y; he kept his long red hair back in a loose ponytail, and he kept his shell brightly polished. Yes, it was true, he was indeed quite handsome, but he was also conceited. He would catch girls for only a few hours before they ran from him crying, "You stupid, cocky, jerk!" (Then the said ex rounded up her girlfriends and they all painted their shells with WE HATE BOWSER, because that was the trendy thing for a koopette to do back then) Bowser never really seemed to care too much about this. In fact, he didn't seem to care much about _anything. _But one small koopette changed his point of view and somehow found her way into the cold Casanova's heart.

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Bowser's POV

It was pretty much a normal, boring-ass day at Koopa High School-me and my guys beating up some nerds without getting caught, looking up girl's skirts. Well, it was normal until I got handed a slip of paper by some shrimp in oversized glasses.

"What the hell is this?" I growled, taking pleasure in the way the weakling trembled with fear. My guys were glaring holes through the guy who had dared come over to our table. "I-It's y-your new schedule, B-Bowser, sir," the kid stammered. "Says who?" I sneered. The dork looked like he was gonna wet his pants! Behind me Bone, my right hand man, snickered audibly. "I dunno! T-t-the p-p-principal told me to give it to you!" he squeaked. I ripped the paper into shreds, breathed a little fire (I was the only koopa I knew who could do that, and I was damn proud) and sent swirling embers right into the half-pints face. He screamed and ran away, his hands over his head.

"Teachers, let's split!" Zero whispered, nodding towards a few of the old hags who were headed our way. We were out in the empty hall when one of them caught us. "You!" she hissed, spraying spit all over me. That pissed me off instantly, and I was just about to hit her when Piper threw out an arm to stop me. He was the smallest of all of us, but also the quickest. "Dude, lemme handle this." he said calmly. He took out his old man's flute from under his shell. There was a legend that Piper's dad had stolen it from the dead, when he had almost died in an accident a couple years back. Piper looked into the wrinkly bitches eye's and firmly blew on the flute. Zero, Delta, Bone and I put our hands over our ears; we didn't call him Piper for nothing. As soon as the hag heard the first few notes, she began to undress. She then ran around screaming, "There's a fat red plumber in my head!"

We all started howling with laughter, until the hallway started to crowd with people again and we had to get the hell out of dodge. Later on when I was sitting at the back of history class, talking with the guys, one of the teachers handed me the same slip of paper that the nerd had tried to give me. "Bowser, you are in the wrong class. Please report to seventh period phys. ed." he said in a blank voice. I shot a look at the guys that said, _No way am I going with that loser! _But before I could do anything the guy had grabbed me and yanked me out of my seat. I didn't want to look like a moron in front of the whole class, so I followed this dick to the gym. "You would do well to hang onto your schedule, young man," the teacher said in a low voice. He walked away. I went through the double doors leading to the gym and saw that everyone was sitting on the benches. I walked up to a guy that I had talked to before but wasn't really close with. "What time is it?" I asked harshly. "Two fifteen." he gave me a flat stare and went off to join some of his friends. That explained why everyone was sitting around-in gym, we got the last fifteen minutes to chill until the bell rang. Since none of my friends were in this class, I took an empty spot on the bleachers. Or so I thought.

I was just sitting there staring into space when I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. A little ways to my left was a small female koopa, with her nose buried in a book. Tarry Hotter or something like that. I was bored, and there were only a few minutes of class left, so I began to noisily file my claws on the wall close to her. Her eyelid twitched, but other wise she did not look up. I blew a gentle flame so it caught on the edge of her hardcover book. She clenched her teeth and pinched the flame out between her fingers, still not saying a single word. Finally, I took it to the limit; I took the rubber band that held my ponytail and aimed it at her, right between the eyes, direct hit. "Okay, that is IT!" she shrieked suddenly. I jumped noticeably. "Who do you think you are, you arrogant, low life bastard?" she hissed. Her face was inches from mine, her book lying open on the bleachers a few feet away. Everyone, and I mean everyone in the gym was staring at us. They expected me to hit her, push her aside, do something to get her out of my face, but I was frozen to the spot. I couldn't move an inch. Quite loudly in the sudden silence, the bell rang. Slowly, everyone grabbed their stuff and left, still turning around to stare at me and this plucky pint sized bookworm. She took a step back as if sizing me up, grabbed her book, and turned to leave. I noticed that, unlike many of the other girls at school, she had not painted her shell-it was a natural, bloody red. Probably as red as my face was.

I stormed straight out of the school and started down the long walk to home. When I did finally get there, dad was nowhere to be seen. Hm. He was probably off with one of his friends, at a bar. Dad was a really cool guy, when he was sober. But…he had a real bad drinking problem. He would get pissed off before you could blink, and for no reason. Most of the time I just avoided him. I didn't mind the old man, not really, but last week he had slashed at me-now that was hard to explain to the guys. My mom died when I was three, so I don't really miss her. I just remember a smile, a voice whispering my name.

I flopped down onto my bed, and my pet chain chomp Terminator came out from under me. I picked the stupid creature up absentmindedly and looked around for some treats to give him. I found a few under my pillow and tossed them out of my bedroom door-Terminator sped after them and I slammed the door behind him. The house seemed strangely quiet. Without realizing it, my mind wandered back to the little red-shelled koopa who had dared scream and rage at me. I was twice as tall as her, she looked very thin, but that look in her eyes had been unmistakable, I had seen in it dad's eyes more times than I could count: fury. And her eyes…they were the deepest, darkest green… Without realizing it, I started to wag my tail a little. _Come on, you idiot, pull yourself together! _I shook my head vigorously as if to clear the troublesome thoughts there. I had dated at least half the girls at our school…none of these relationships lasted more than a day…but why did the thought of that little red-shelled thing get my tail wagging? But I couldn't stop thinking of the way she looked at me. No one had ever dared look at me that way before. I heard Dad stumble through the door and call my name, but I ignored him; thank god it was Friday, and I could sleep in.

_End of chapter_


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